Mobile terminal and method for controlling haptic feedback

ABSTRACT

Methods and a mobile terminal for providing visual and haptic feedback are provided. At least one first touch made to an object displayed on a touch screen is detected. The object is transformed and displayed in response to movement of the first touch. At least one second touch made to the displayed object is detected. Visual feedback is displayed on the touch screen in response to the second touch, and haptic feedback corresponding to a predetermined haptic pattern is output using a vibration motor.

PRIORITY

This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119(a) to a Koreanpatent application filed in the Korean Intellectual Property Office onJan. 29, 2013 and assigned Serial No. 10-2013-0009998, the entiredisclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present disclosure relates generally to a mobile terminal, and moreparticularly, to a mobile terminal and method for controlling haptic

2. Description of the Related Art

In recent years, there has been a gradual increase in the number ofservices and add-ons (or additional features) provided by mobileterminals. In order to increase the utility of the mobile terminals andsatisfy various needs of users, a wide variety of applications, whichare executable in the mobile terminals, have been developed.

Accordingly, a few to hundreds of applications may be stored in a mobileterminal with a touch screen, such as, for example, a smart phone, acellular phone, a laptop Personal Computer (PC) and a tablet PC. Objects(or shortcut icons) provided for executing their associated applicationsmay be displayed on the touch screen of the mobile terminal. Thus, theuser may execute his/her desired application on the mobile terminal bytouching any one of the shortcut icons displayed on the touch screen. Onthe touch screen of the mobile terminal may be displayed various typesof visual objects such as widgets, photos, and documents, in addition tothe shortcut icons.

As such, the mobile terminal may apply, to the displayed objects, atouch input scheme that uses an input unit or a touch input unit, suchas, for example, a user's finger, an electronic pen, and a stylus pen.The touch input scheme may be classified into a contact touch inputscheme for allowing the user to make a contact touch between the touchscreen and the user's body or the touch input unit, and a non-contacttouch input scheme for allowing the user to make a non-contact touch(e.g., hovering) between the touch screen and the user's body or thetouch input unit. These touch input schemes may provide convenient userinterfaces.

A scheme has been used, which generates vibrations to allow the user tofeel a realistic button manipulation feeling by means of a vibrationdevice when he/she makes a touch input on the touch screen. As such,research has been conducted on various touch input technologies, andmany studies have been conducted to meet the demand for interesting newmulti-sensory interfaces desired by users.

As described above, a scheme has been applied, which provides vibrationsthrough the touch screen, allowing the user to feel a manipulationfeeling when manipulating the mobile terminal. This scheme merely allowsthe user to recognize that the input unit is in contact with the touchscreen.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention has been made to address at least the aboveproblems and/or disadvantages and to provide at least the advantagesdescribed below. Accordingly, an aspect of the present invention is toprovide a mobile terminal and method for controlling haptic effects whena user manipulates a user interface on the mobile terminal equipped withat least one touch screen.

In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, a method isprovided for providing visual and haptic feedback in a mobile terminal.At least one first touch made to an object displayed on a touch screenis detected. The object is transformed and displayed in response tomovement of the first touch. At least one second touch made to thedisplayed object is detected. Visual feedback is displayed on the touchscreen in response to the second touch, and haptic feedbackcorresponding to a predetermined haptic pattern is output using avibration motor.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a mobileterminal is provided for providing visual and haptic feedback. Themobile terminal includes a vibration motor configured to outputvibrations, a touch screen configured to display an object, and acontroller configured to control display in response to a first touchmade to the object, and to control the vibration motor to output hapticfeedback corresponding to a predetermined haptic pattern in response toa second touch made to the object.

In accordance with an additional aspect of the present invention, aninput unit is provided for providing haptic feedback. The input unitincludes a vibration device, a short-range communication unit forreceiving, from a mobile terminal, a control signal for controllingvibrations of the vibration device, and a haptic controller forcontrolling the vibrations of the vibration device by analyzing thereceived control signal. The control signal comprises a predeterminedhaptic pattern corresponding to visual feedback provided to an objectthat is transformed by movement of the input unit on a touch screen ofthe mobile terminal.

In accordance with a further aspect of the present invention, a methodis provided for providing haptic feedback in an input unit. A controlsignal for controlling vibrations of a vibration device is received froma mobile terminal. The vibrations of the vibration device are controlledby analyzing the received control signal. The control signal comprises apredetermined haptic pattern corresponding to visual feedback providedto an object that is transformed by movement of the input unit on atouch screen of the mobile terminal.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other aspects, features, and advantages of embodiments ofthe present invention will be more apparent from the following detaileddescription when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, inwhich:

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a mobile terminalproviding haptic effects, according to an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a front perspective view of a mobileterminal, according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a rear perspective view of a mobileterminal, according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an internal cross-section of an inputunit and a touch screen, which provide haptic effects, according to anembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating an input unit providing hoveringinput effects, according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a method for controlling a scrollingspeed and providing haptic effects for a selected object, according toan embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7A illustrates a screen on which a plurality of objects displayedon a touch screen of a mobile terminal are scrolled, according to anembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7B illustrates a screen on which a plurality of objects displayedon a touch screen are being scrolled, according to an embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 7C illustrates the controlling of a scrolling speed is controlledfor a plurality of objects being scrolled by making a hovering input,and providing haptic effects for a selected object, according to anembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7D illustrates the controlling of a scrolling speed for objectsbeing scrolled by making a hovering input, according to anotherembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7E illustrates a waveform of a haptic pattern used when an objectis selected, according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a method for providing visualfeedback and haptic feedback when a pinch is applied to an objectdisplayed on a touch screen, according to an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 9A illustrates the pinching of an object displayed on a touchscreen of a mobile terminal, according to an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 9B illustrates the displaying of an object on a touch screen thatcan no longer be pinched, according to an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 9C illustrates the results obtained by pinching an object displayedon a touch screen, according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 9D illustrates the displaying of an object on a touch screen thatcan no longer be pinched, according to another embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a method for providing visualfeedback and haptic feedback when a spread is applied to an objectdisplayed on a touch screen, according to an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 11A illustrates the spreading of an object displayed on a touchscreen of a mobile terminal, according to an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 11B illustrates the displaying of an object on a touch screen thatcan no longer be spread, according to an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 11C illustrates the results obtained by spreading an objectdisplayed on a touch screen, according to an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 11D illustrates the displaying of an object on a touch screen thatcan no longer be spread, according to another embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 12 illustrates a waveform of a haptic pattern used when an objectdisplayed on a touch screen can no longer be pinched or spread,according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating a method for providing visualfeedback and haptic feedback when a gesture is made to display at leastone object existing beneath a plurality of objects displayed on a touchscreen, according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 14A illustrates the displaying of a plurality of objects on a touchscreen of a mobile terminal, according to an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 14B illustrates the making of a gesture to display at least oneobject existing beneath a plurality of objects displayed on a touchscreen, according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 14C illustrates that at least one object existing beneath aplurality of objects displayed on a touch screen can no longer bedisplayed, according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 14D illustrates that at least one object existing beneath aplurality of objects displayed on a touch screen can no longer bedisplayed, according to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 14E illustrates the displaying of at least one object existing inthe lowermost side when a gesture to display at least one objectexisting beneath a plurality of objects displayed on a touch screen canno longer be made, according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 15 is a flowchart illustrating a method for providing visualfeedback and haptic feedback when a gesture is made to display at leastone object existing above a plurality of objects displayed on a touchscreen, according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 16A illustrates the displaying of a plurality of objects on a touchscreen of a mobile terminal, according to an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 16B illustrates the making of a gesture to display at least oneobject existing above a plurality of objects displayed on a touchscreen, according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 16C illustrates that at least one object existing above a pluralityof objects displayed on a touch screen can no longer be displayed,according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 16D illustrates that at least one object existing above a pluralityof objects displayed on a touch screen can no longer be displayed,according to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 16E illustrates the displaying of at least one object existing inthe uppermost side when at least one object existing above a pluralityof objects displayed on a touch screen can no longer be displayed,according to an embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 17 illustrates a waveform of a haptic pattern used when at leastone object existing beneath or above a plurality of objects displayed ona touch screen can no longer be displayed, according to an embodiment ofthe present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

Embodiments of the present invention are described in detail withreference to the accompanying drawings. The same or similar componentsmay be designated by the same or similar reference numerals althoughthey are illustrated in different drawings. Detailed descriptions ofconstructions or processes known in the art may be omitted to avoidobscuring the subject matter of the present invention.

The terms and words used in the following description and claims are notlimited to their dictionary meanings, but, are merely used by theinventor to enable a clear and consistent understanding of thedisclosure. Accordingly, it should be apparent to those skilled in theart that the following description of embodiments of the presentinvention is provided for illustration purpose only and not for thepurpose of limiting the disclosure as defined by the appended claims andtheir equivalents.

It is to be understood that the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the”include plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.Thus, for example, reference to “a component surface” includes referenceto one or more of such surfaces.

By the term “substantially” it is meant that the recited characteristic,parameter, or value need not be achieved exactly, but that deviations orvariations, including for example, tolerances, measurement error,measurement accuracy limitations and other factors known to those ofskill in the art, may occur in amounts that do not preclude the effectthe characteristic was intended to provide.

The term ‘mobile terminal’ refers to a mobile terminal that a user cancarry with him/her, and that can support data transmission/reception andvoice/video calls, and the mobile terminal may include at least onetouch screen. Such mobile terminals may include smart phones, tabletPCs, 3-Dimensional Televisions (3D-TVs), smart TVs, Light Emitting Diode(LED) TVs and Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) TVs, and may also include anyterminal that can communicate with peripheral devices, or otherterminals located in remote areas.

The term ‘input unit’ refers to at least one of a finger, an electronicpen and a stylus pen that can provide commands or inputs to a mobileterminal as the user touches a touch screen not only in a contact touchway, but also in a non-contact touch (e.g., hovering) way.

The term ‘object’ refers to an object that is or can be displayed on atouch screen of a mobile terminal, and such objects may include at leastone of documents, widgets, photos, maps, videos, Emails, Short MessageService (SMS) messages and Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) messages,and may be executed, deleted, canceled, stored and changed by an inputunit. These objects may be construed to include shortcut icons,thumbnail images, and folders in which a mobile terminal stores at leastone object.

The term ‘shortcut icon’ refers to a shortcut icon that is displayed ona touch screen of a mobile terminal, for fast execution of calls,contacts, menus and the like, which are provided by default in eachapplication or the mobile terminal. Upon receiving a command or an inputfor executing a certain function, the mobile terminal may execute itsassociated application.

The term ‘touch gesture’ refers to an input operation of controllingdisplay of at least one object displayed on a touch screen of a mobileterminal, using an input unit or a finger. These touch gestures mayinclude, for example, a gesture to touch a touch screen with a finger,and then continuously touch the touch screen with the finger (orcontinuously move the finger) downward to display at least one objectabove; a gesture to touch a touch screen with a finger, and thencontinuously touch the touch screen with the finger (or continuouslymove the finger) upward to display at least one object existing beneath;a gesture to touch a touch screen with a finger, and then continuouslytouch the touch screen with the finger (or continuously move the finger)from the right to the left to display at least one object existing inthe right side; a gesture to touch a touch screen with a finger, andthen continuously touch the touch screen with the finger (orcontinuously move the finger) from the left to the right to display atleast one object in the left side; a pinch (gesture) to touch a touchscreen with two fingers, and then continuously drag in a direction ofnarrowing a gap between the two fingers to zoom out a displayed object;and a spread (gesture) to touch a touch screen with two fingers, andthen continuously drag in a direction of widening a gap between the twofingers to zoom in a displayed object. Due to the aforementionedgestures, an object displayed on a touch screen may be scrolled, zoomedout, or zoomed in, and at least one side of the displayed object may betransformed to be concave or convex.

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a mobile terminalproviding haptic effects, according to an embodiment of the presentinvention.

Referring to FIG. 1, a mobile terminal 100 may be connected to externaldevices using at least one of a mobile communication module 120, asub-communication module 130, a connector 165, and an earphone jack 167.The external devices may include a variety of devices, such as, forexample, earphones, external speakers, Universal Serial Bus (USB)memories, chargers, cradles/docks, Digital Multimedia Broadcasting (DMB)antennas, mobile payment-related devices, health care devices (e.g.,blood glucose meters and the like), game consoles, and car navigationdevices, all of which can be detachably connected to the mobile terminal100 by wires. In addition, the external devices may include Bluetoothdevices, Near Field Communication (NFC) devices, WiFi Direct devices andwireless Access Points (APs), all of which can be wirelessly connectedto the mobile terminal 100. The mobile terminal 100 may be connected toother devices (e.g., cellular phones, smart phones, tablet PCs, desktopPCs, and servers) by wires or wirelessly.

The mobile terminal 100 includes at least one touch screen 190 and atleast one touch screen controller 195. In addition, the mobile terminal100 includes a controller 110, the mobile communication module 120, thesub-communication module 130, a multimedia module 140, a camera module150, a Global Positioning System (GPS) module 157, an Input/Output (I/O)module 160, a sensor module 170, a storage unit 175, and a power supply180.

The sub-communication module 130 includes at least one of a WirelessLocal Area Network (WLAN) module 131 and a short-range communicationmodule 132. The multimedia module 140 includes at least one of abroadcasting & communication module 141, an audio playback module 142,and a video playback module 143. The camera module 150 includes at leastone of a first camera 151 and a second camera 152. Depending on the mainpurposes of the mobile terminal 100, the camera module 150 of the mobileterminal 100 also includes at least one of a barrel 155 used for zoomin/out of the first and/or second cameras 151 and 152, a motor 154 forcontrolling movement of the barrel 155, and a flash 153 for providing alight source for capturing an image. The I/O module 160 includes atleast one of a button(s) 161, a microphone 162, a speaker 163, avibration motor 164, the connector 165, a keypad 166, the earphone jack167, an input unit 168, and an attachment/detachment detecting switch169.

The controller 110 includes a Central Processing Unit (CPU) 111, a ReadOnly Memory (ROM) 112 storing a control program for control of themobile terminal 100, and a Random Access Memory (RAM) 113 thattemporarily stores the signals or data input from the outside of themobile terminal 100, or is used as a workspace for operations performedin the mobile terminal 100. The CPU 111 may include a single-core CPU, adual-core CPU, a triple-core CPU, or a quad-core CPU. The CPU 111, theROM 112 and the RAM 113 may be interconnected through an internal bus.

The controller 110 may control the mobile communication module 120, thesub-communication module 130, the multimedia module 140, the cameramodule 150, the GPS module 157, the I/O module 160, the sensor module170, the storage unit 175, the power supply 180, the touch screen 190,and the touch screen controller 195.

The controller 110 may determine whether hovering is recognized as thetouch input unit 168, such as, for example, an electronic pen,approaches any one object while a plurality of objects are displayed onthe touch screen 190, and may identify an object corresponding to theposition where the hovering has occurred. The controller 110 may detecta height spanning from the mobile terminal 100 (to be specific, theupper surface of the mobile terminal 100) to the input unit 168, and ahovering input event corresponding to the height. The hovering inputevent may include at least one of a gesture to press a button formed onthe input unit 168, a gesture to tap on the input unit 168, a gesture tomove the input unit 168 faster than a predetermined speed, and a gestureto touch an object. A haptic pattern may be set differently depending onthe distance between the input unit 168 and the touch screen 190. If ahovering input event occurs, the controller 110 may display presethovering input effects corresponding to the hovering input event on thetouch screen 190.

The controller 110 may display at least one object by controlling thetouch screen 190. Upon detecting a touch gesture made by the input unit168 on the touch screen 190, the controller 110 may move an objectdisplayed on the touch screen 190 up, down, left or right, or may zoomin or out the displayed object in response to the touch gesture. If thetouch gesture corresponds to hovering by the input unit 168, thecontroller 110 may calculate a distance between the touch screen 190 andthe input unit 168, and control an object display speed of the touchscreen 190 in response to the calculated distance. If the touch gesturecorresponds to a scrolling input, the controller 110 may form ortransform at least one side of at least one object existing in theuppermost side, the lowermost side, the rightmost side, or the leftmostside to be concave or convex, or may provide visual feedback such as,for example, vibrating effects and rippling effects (in which therippling strength may gradually decrease over time), and control thevibration motor 164 mounted in the mobile terminal 100.

The mobile communication module 120, under control of the controller110, may connect the mobile terminal 100 to the external devices bymobile communication using at least one antenna. The mobilecommunication module 120 may transmit and receive wireless signals forvoice calls, video calls, SMS messages, or MMS messages to/from acellular phone, a smart phone, a tablet PC, or other devices, phonenumbers of all of which are registered in the mobile terminal 100.

The sub-communication module 130 may include at least one of the WLANmodule 131 and the short-range communication module 132. For example,the sub-communication module 130 may include any one or both of the WLANmodule 131 and the short-range communication module 132.

The WLAN module 131, under control of the controller 110, may access theInternet in the place where a wireless AP is installed. The WLAN module131 may support the WLAN standard IEEE802.11x proposed by Institute ofElectrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). The short-rangecommunication module 132, under control of the controller 110, maywirelessly perform short-range communication between the mobile terminal100 and an image forming apparatus. The short-range communication schememay include, for example, Bluetooth, Infrared Data Association (IrDA),WiFi-Direct, NFC and the like.

The controller 110 may transmit a control signal corresponding to ahaptic pattern to the input unit 168 through at least one of the WLANmodule 131 and the short-range communication module 132 in thesub-communication module 130.

Depending on its performance, the mobile terminal 100 may include atleast one or a combination of the mobile communication module 120, theWLAN module 131, and the short-range communication module 132. In anembodiment of the present invention, at least one or a combination ofthe mobile communication module 120, the WLAN module 131, and theshort-range communication module 132 will be referred to as atransceiver, but it is not intended to limit the scope of the disclosurethereto.

The multimedia module 140 may include the broadcasting & communicationmodule 141, the audio playback module 142, or the video playback module143. The broadcasting & communication module 141, under control of thecontroller 110, may receive broadcast signals (e.g., TV broadcastsignals, radio broadcast signals, or data broadcast signals) andadditional broadcast signals (e.g., Electric Program Guide (EPS) orElectric Service Guide (ESG)), which are sent from broadcastingstations, via a broadcasting & communication antenna. The audio playbackmodule 142, under control of the controller 110, may play stored orreceived digital audio files (with an extension of, for example, mp3,wma, ogg or way). The video playback module 143, under control of thecontroller 110, may play stored or received digital video files (with anextension of, for example, mpeg, mpg, mp4, avi, mov, or mkv). The videoplayback module 143 may play the digital audio files as well.

The multimedia module 140 may include the audio playback module 142 andthe video playback module 143, and not the broadcasting & communicationmodule 141. The audio playback module 142 or the video playback module143 in the multimedia module 140 may be incorporated into the controller110.

The first camera 151 of the camera module 150 may be disposed on thefront of the mobile terminal 100, and the second camera 152 may bedisposed on the rear of the mobile terminal 100. Alternatively, both ofthe first and second cameras 151 and 152 may be mounted on the front ofthe mobile terminal 100 to be adjacent to each other (with a gap betweenthem being greater than 1 cm, for example, and less than 8 cm, forexample), making it possible to shoot 3D images or videos.

Each of the first and second cameras 151 and 152 may include a lenssystem, an image sensor and the like. Each of the first and secondcameras 151 and 152 may convert an optical image signal received through(or captured by) the lens system into an electrical image signal, andoutput the electrical image signal to the controller 110, and the usermay shoot videos or still images using the first and second cameras 151and 152.

The GPS module 157 may receive radio waves from a plurality of GPSsatellites, and calculate the location of the mobile terminal 100 usingthe Time of Arrival (ToA) of radio waves from the GPS satellites to themobile terminal 100.

Components of the I/O module 160 may not be limited, and cursor controlunits such as mouse, trackball, joystick and cursor arrow keys may beprovided to control movement of a cursor on the touch screen 190 throughcommunication with the controller 110.

The buttons 161 of the I/O module 160 may be formed on the front, sideor rear of a housing of the mobile terminal 100, and may include, forexample, at least one of a Power/Lock button, a Volume button, a Menubutton, a Home button, a Back button, and a Search button.

The microphone 162 of the I/O module 160, under control of thecontroller 110, may generate electrical signals by receiving voices orsounds.

The speaker 163 of the I/O module 160, under control of the controller110, may output sounds corresponding to a variety of signals (e.g.,wireless signals, broadcast signals, digital audio files, digital videofiles, photo-shooting sounds, or the like) from the mobile communicationmodule 120, the sub-communication module 130, the multimedia module 140or the camera module 150, to the outside of the mobile terminal 100. Thespeaker 163 may output the sounds corresponding to a control signal thatis transmitted to the input unit 168 through the short-rangecommunication module 132. The sounds corresponding to the control signalmay include the sound corresponding to activation of a vibration device520 (see FIG. 5) in the input unit 168, the sound whose intensity variesdepending on the vibration intensity, and the sound corresponding todeactivation of the vibration device 520. The speaker 163 may output thesounds corresponding to at least one of visual feedback and hapticfeedback for an object displayed on the touch screen 190. These soundscorresponding to at least one of visual feedback and haptic feedback mayinclude vibrating or rippling sounds, which are generated when objectsare scrolled, or any one of a plurality of scrolled objects is selected,or generated when objects are zoomed in, zoomed out, or scrolled up ordown, and the speaker 163 may output the sounds corresponding tothereto. For these sounds, their volume may be controlled depending onthe vibration intensity of the vibration device 520 in the input unit168, and the sounds may be output through the speaker 163 in the mobileterminal 100 and/or a speaker 560 mounted in the input unit 168 at thetime of activation of the vibration device 520, or before/after a lapseof a predetermined time (e.g., 10 ms). The sounds may be terminated atthe time of deactivation of the vibration device 520, or before/after alapse of a predetermined time (e.g., 10 ms). In addition, the speaker163 may output the sounds (e.g., button manipulation tones or ring backtones for calls) corresponding to the functions executed by the mobileterminal 100. One or multiple speakers 163 may be formed in a properposition or positions of the housing of the mobile terminal 100.

The vibration motor 164 of the I/O module 160, under control of thecontroller 110, may convert electrical signals into mechanicalvibrations. For example, upon receiving a voice call from anotherdevice, the mobile terminal 100 in a vibration mode may activate orenable the vibration motor 164. One or multiple vibration motors 164 maybe formed in the housing of the mobile terminal 100. The vibration motor164 may operate or may be enabled in response to a user's gesture totouch the touch screen 190, and a user's gesture to continuously move(or drag) the touch on the touch screen 190. The vibration motor 164 mayvibrate in haptic feedback corresponding to the feeling (e.g., vibratingfeeling, rippling feeling and the like) that the user feels. The hapticfeedback may be the same or different depending on whether objects arescrolled, whether any one of scrolled multiple objects is selected,whether the selected object is zoomed in or zoomed out, or whetherobjects are scrolled up or down. The vibration motor 164 may vibrate inresponse to the haptic feedback.

The connector 165 of the I/O module 160 may be used as an interface forconnecting the mobile terminal 100 to external devices or a powersource. The mobile terminal 100, under control of the controller 110,may transmit the data stored in the storage unit 175 of the mobileterminal 100 to external devices or receive data from the externaldevices, through a wired cable connected to the connector 165. Themobile terminal 100 may receive power from a power source or charge itsrechargeable battery using the power source, through a wired cableconnected to the connector 165.

The keypad 166 of the I/O module 160 may receive key inputs from theuser, for control of the mobile terminal 100. The keypad 166 may includea physical keypad formed on the mobile terminal 100 or a virtual keypaddisplayed on the touch screen 190. The physical keypad formed on themobile terminal 100 is optional depending on the performance orstructure of the mobile terminal 100.

An earphone may be inserted in the earphone jack 167 of the I/O module160 and connected to the mobile terminal 100. The input unit 168 of theI/O module may be kept inside the mobile terminal 100 after beinginserted therein, and may be pulled out or detached from the mobileterminal 100 during its use. In a specific area inside the mobileterminal 100, in which the input unit 168 is inserted, may be mounted anattachment/detachment detecting switch 169 that operates in response tothe attachment/detachment of the input unit 168. Theattachment/detachment detecting switch 169 may provide a signalcorresponding to the attachment and detachment of the input unit 168 tothe controller 110. The attachment/detachment detecting switch 169 maybe prepared in a specific area in which the input unit 168 is inserted,and provided to be in direct or indirect contact with the input unit 168when the input unit 168 is attached to or inserted in the mobileterminal 100. Accordingly, based on its direct/indirect contact with theinput unit 168, the attachment/detachment detecting switch 169 maygenerate a signal corresponding to the attachment/detachment of theinput unit 168, and provide the generated signal to the controller 110.

The sensor module 170 may include at least one sensor for detecting thestatus of the mobile terminal 100. For example, the sensor module 170may include at least one of a proximity sensor for detecting the user'sproximity to the mobile terminal 100, an ambient light sensor fordetecting the amount of light in the vicinity of the mobile terminal100, a motion sensor for detecting a motion (e.g., rotation,acceleration or vibration) of the mobile terminal 100, a geo-magneticsensor for detecting the point of the compass using the Earth's magneticfield, a gravity sensor for detecting the direction in which the gravityis applied to the mobile terminal 100, and an altimeter for detectingthe altitude by measuring the atmosphere pressure. At least one sensormay detect the status of the mobile terminal 100, generate a signalcorresponding to the detected status, and provide the signal to thecontroller 110. These and other sensors for the sensor module 170 may beadded or removed depending on the performance of the mobile terminal100.

The storage unit 175, under control of the controller 110, may store thesignals or data which are input or output to correspond to operations ofthe mobile communication module 120, the sub-communication module 130,the multimedia module 140, the camera module 150, the GPS module 157,the I/O module 160, the sensor module 170, the touch screen 190. Thestorage unit 175 may store a control program for control of the mobileterminal 100 or the controller 110, and a variety of applications.

The term ‘storage unit’ may be construed to include the storage unit175, the ROM 112 and the RAM 113 in the controller 110, or a memory card(e.g., a Secure Digital (SD) card and a memory stick) mounted in themobile terminal 100. The storage unit may include non-volatile memory,volatile memory, Hard Disk Drive (HDD), or Solid State Drive (SSD).

The storage unit 175 may store applications of various features, suchas, for example, navigation applications, video call applications, gameapplications and alarm applications; images for providing theirassociated Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs); databases or data relatedto the ways to handle user information, documents and touch inputs;background images (menu screens, standby screens and the like) needed todrive the mobile terminal 100, or operational programs; and imagescaptured by the camera module 150. Further, the storage unit 175 maystore haptic patterns corresponding to the feelings (e.g., vibratingfeeling, rippling feeling and the like) that the user feels. The storageunit 175 may be a machine-readable medium (e.g., computer-readablemedium), and the term ‘machine-readable medium’ may be defined as amedium that provides data to a machine so that the machine may perform aspecific function. The machine-readable medium may be a storage medium.The storage unit 175 may include non-volatile media and volatile media.All of these media should be configured to make it possible to detectcommands carried by the media by means of a physical mechanism thatreads the commands into the machine.

The machine-readable medium may, though not limited to, include at leastone of floppy disk, flexible disk, hard disk, magnetic tape, CompactDisc Read-Only Memory (CD-ROM), optical disk, punch card, paper tape,RAM, Programmable Read-Only Memory (PROM), Erasable PROM (EPROM), andFLASH-EPROM.

The power supply 180, under control of the controller 110, may supplypower to one or more rechargeable batteries mounted in the housing ofthe mobile terminal 100. The one or more rechargeable batteries maysupply power to the mobile terminal 100. The power supply 180 maysupply, to the mobile terminal 100, the power that is received from anexternal power source via a wired cable connected to the connector 165.The power supply 180 may supply, to the mobile terminal 100, the powerthat is wirelessly received from an external power source using wirelesscharging technology.

The mobile terminal 100 may include at least one touch screen 190 thatprovides the user with user interfaces corresponding to various services(e.g., calls, data transfer, broadcasting, photo shooting and the like).Each touch screen 190 may transfer an analog signal corresponding to atleast one touch made on a user interface to its associated touch screencontroller 195. As such, the mobile terminal 100 may include a pluralityof touch screens, and may also include their associated touch screencontrollers that receive analog signals corresponding to touches made onthe associated touch screens. These touch screens may be mounted on aplurality of housings separately through a hinge connection, or may bemounted on a single housing without the hinge connection. As describedabove, the mobile terminal 100, according to an embodiment of thepresent invention, may include at least one touch screen. However, itwill be assumed that the mobile terminal 100 includes one touch screen190 for convenience purpose only.

The touch screen 190 may receive at least one touch through the user'sbody (e.g., fingers including the thumb) or a touch input unit (e.g., astylus pen and an electronic pen). The touch screen 190 may include apen recognition panel 191 that recognizes an input made by a pen such asa stylus pen or an electronic pen, and the pen recognition panel 191 maydetermine the distance between the pen and the touch screen 190 based ona magnetic field. The touch screen 190 may receive a continuous movementof any one of at least one touch. The touch screen 190 may transfer ananalog signal corresponding to the received continuous movement of atouch to the touch screen controller 195.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the touch may not be limitedto a contact touch between the touch screen 190 and the user's body orthe touch input unit, but may include a non-contact touch between thetouch screen 190 and the user's body or the touch input unit (with adetectable gap between them being set to, for example, about 5 mm). Thegap detectable by the touch screen 190 may be subject to changedepending on the performance or the structure of the mobile terminal100. The touch screen 190 may be configured to differently output values(e.g., analog voltage values or current values) detected by a touchevent (or a contact touch event) and a hovering event (or a non-contacttouch event), to make it possible to separately detect the touch eventand the hovering event between the touch screen 190 and the user's bodyor the touch input unit. Preferably, the touch screen 190 maydifferently output the detected values (e.g., current values and thelike) depending on the distance between the touch screen 190 and thespace where the hovering event occurs.

The touch screen 190 may be implemented in, for example, a resistivetype, a capacitive type, an infrared type, or an acoustic wave type.

The touch screen 190 may include at least two touch screen panelscapable of detecting each of a touch thereon and a proximity thereto bythe user's body and the touch input unit, to make it possible tosequentially or simultaneously receive inputs by the user's body and thetouch input unit. The at least two touch screen panels may providedifferent output values to the touch screen controller 195, and thetouch screen controller 195 may differently recognize the valuesreceived from the at least two touch screen panels, and determinewhether the input from the touch screen 190 is an input by the user'sbody, or an input by the touch input unit. The touch screen 190 maydisplay at least one object. In addition, the touch screen 190, undercontrol of the controller 110, may display bounce effects or a visualfeedback (e.g., vibrating effects, rippling effects and the like), whenthe user desires to display at least one object existing in theuppermost side, the lowermost side, the leftmost side or the rightmostside by scrolling objects using the input unit 168.

More specifically, the touch screen 190 may be configured in a structurein which a panel for detecting a non-contact input (or a hovering input)by the finger or the input unit 168 based on a change in inducedelectromotive force and a panel for detecting a physical contact withthe touch screen 190 by the finger or the input unit 168 may besequentially stacked to be in contact with each other, or to bepartially spaced apart from each other. The touch screen 190 may includea plurality of pixels, and display images on the pixels. The touchscreen 190 may use, as its display panel, a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD)panel, an Organic Light Emitting Diodes (OLED) panel, or a LightEmitting Diodes (LED) panel.

The touch screen 190 may include a plurality of sensors for detectingthe position where the finger or the input unit 168 is in contact withthe surface of the touch screen 190, or is put on or over the touchscreen 190, keeping a certain distance from the touch screen 190. Eachof the plurality of sensors may be formed in a coil structure, and asensor layer formed of a plurality of sensors may have patterns on whichthe sensors are set up in advance, and may have a plurality of electrodelines formed thereon. Due to this structure, if a contact or hoveringinput occurs on the touch screen 190 by the finger or the input unit168, the touch screen 190 may generate a detection signal whose waveformis changed based on a capacitance between the sensor layer and the inputmeans. The touch screen 190 may transfer the generated detection signalto the controller 110. The distance between the input unit 168 and thetouch screen 190 may be determined based on the strength of a magneticfield formed by a coil 510 (see FIG. 5). A process of setting thevibration intensity will be described in greater detail below.

The touch screen controller 195 may convert an analog signal receivedfrom the touch screen 190 into a digital signal (e.g., X and Ycoordinates), and transfer the digital signal to the controller 110. Thecontroller 110 may control the touch screen 190 using the digital signalreceived from the touch screen controller 195. For example, thecontroller 110 may select or execute a shortcut icon or an objectdisplayed on the touch screen 190 in response to a touch event or ahovering event. The touch screen controller 195 may be incorporated intothe controller 110.

The touch screen controller 195 may determine the distance between thetouch screen 190 and the space where the hovering event occurs, bydetecting the values (e.g., current values and the like) output from thetouch screen 190, and may convert the determined distance value into adigital signal (e.g., Z coordinates), and provide the digital signal tothe controller 110.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a front perspective view of a mobileterminal, according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 isa diagram illustrating a rear perspective view of a mobile terminal,according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, the touch screen 190 is disposed in thecenter of a front 100 a of the mobile terminal 100. The touch screen 190is formed large enough to occupy most of the front 100 a of the mobileterminal 100. FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a main home screendisplayed on the touch screen 190. The main home screen may be the firstscreen that is displayed on the touch screen 190 when the mobileterminal 190 is powered on. If the mobile terminal 100 has differenthome screens of several pages, the main home screen may be the firsthome screen among the home screens of several pages. On the main homescreen is displayed shortcut icons 191-1, 191-2 and 191-3 provided forexecuting the frequently used applications, a main menu switch key (orApps shortcut icon) 191-4, the current time, the weather, and the like.The main menu switch key 191-4 is provided to display menu screens onthe touch screen 190. On the top of the touch screen 190 is displayed astatus bar 192 indicating the status of the mobile terminal 100, suchas, for example, a battery level, a received signal strength, and thecurrent time.

Under the touch screen 190 is formed a home button 161 a, a menu button161 b, and a back button 161 c.

The home button 161 a may be used to display the main home screen on thetouch screen 190. For example, if the home button 161 a is touched whileany home screen different from the main home screen, or a menu screen isdisplayed on the touch screen 190, then the main home screen may bedisplayed on the touch screen 190. If the home button 161 a is touchedwhile applications are executed on the touch screen 190, the main homescreen shown in FIG. 2 may be displayed on the touch screen 190. Thehome button 161 a may also be used to display recently usedapplications, or a task manager on the touch screen 190.

The menu button 161 b may be used to provide connection menus that canbe used on the touch screen 190. The connection menus may include an addwidget menu, a select wallpaper menu, a search menu, an edit menu, apreferences menu, and the like.

The back button 161 c may be used to display the previous screenpreceding the currently screen, or to exit the most recently usedapplication.

On the edge of the front 100 a of the mobile terminal 100 are disposedthe first camera 151, an ambient light sensor 170 a, and a proximitysensor 170 b. On the rear 100 c of the mobile terminal 100 are disposedthe second camera 152, the flash 153, and the speaker 163.

On the sides 100 b of the mobile terminal 100 are disposed, for example,a power/reset button 161 d, volume button 161 e (with volume up 161 fand volume down 161 g), a terrestrial DMB antenna 141 a for broadcastreception, one or more microphones 162, and the like. The DMB antenna141 a may be detachably fixed to (or formed in) the mobile terminal 100.

The connector 165 is formed on the bottom of the mobile terminal 100. Aplurality of electrodes may be formed in the connector 165, andconnected to external devices by wires. The earphone jack 167 is formedon the top of the mobile terminal 100. An earphone may be inserted intothe earphone jack 167.

The input unit 168 is mounted in the bottom of the mobile terminal 100.The input unit 168 may be kept inside the mobile terminal 100 afterbeing inserted therein, and may be pulled out or detached from themobile terminal 100 during its use.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an internal cross-section of an inputunit and a touch screen, which provide haptic effects, according to anembodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 4, the touch screen 190 includes a first touch panel440, a display panel 450, and a second touch panel 460. The displaypanel 450 may be an LCD panel, an Active Mode OLED (AMOLED) panel, andthe like, and may display a variety of images and a plurality ofobjects, which are associated with various operating statuses of themobile terminal 100, the execution of applications, and servicesprovided.

The first touch panel 440, which is a capacitive touch panel, may be adielectric-coated panel that is configured to enable a current to flowon its glass surface and to store charges thereon, by coating both sidesof the glass with a thin metallic conductive material (e.g., an IndiumTin Oxide (ITO) film). If the surface of the first touch panel 440 istouched by the input unit 168 (e.g., a user's finger or a pen), acertain amount of charges may move to the touch position by the staticelectricity, and the first touch panel 440 may detect the touch positionby recognizing a change in the current due to the movement of charges.The first touch panel 440 may detect any type of touch that may causestatic electricity, regardless of whether the touch is made by thefinger or the pen.

The second touch panel 460, which is an Electronic Magnetic Resonance(EMR) touch panel, may include an electromagnetic induction coil sensorhaving a grid structure in which a plurality of loop coils are arrangedin a predetermined first direction and a second direction crossing thefirst direction, and an electronic signal processor for providing anAlternating Current (AC) signal having a predetermined frequency to eachof the loop coils in the electromagnetic induction coil sensor insequence. If the input unit 168 with a resonance circuit built thereinexists in the vicinity of a loop coil of the second touch panel 460, amagnetic field originating from the loop coil may cause a current thatis based on mutual electromagnetic induction, in the resonance circuitof the input unit 168. Based on the current, an induced magnetic fieldmay occur from a coil constituting the resonance circuit in the inputunit 168, and the second touch panel 460 may detect the induced magneticfield from its loop coils which are in a signal receiving state,enabling the mobile terminal 100 to detect a hovering position and atouch position of the input unit 168, and a height ‘h’ from the firsttouch panel 440 to a pen tip 430 of the input unit 168. It will beapparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that the height ‘h’ fromthe first touch panel 440 of the touch screen 190 to the pen tip 430 issubject to change in response to the performance or structure of themobile terminal 100. The second touch panel 460 may detect hovering andtouch made by the input unit 168 capable of generating a current that isbased on electromagnetic induction. The second touch panel 460 may beused as a dedicated touch panel for detecting hovering or touch by theinput unit 168. The input unit 168 may also be referred to as anelectromagnetic pen or an EMR pen. The input unit 168 may be differentfrom the common pen without the resonance circuit that is detected bythe first touch panel 440. The input unit 168 may include a button 420used to change a value of electromagnetic induction caused by a coilarranged inside a penholder, the coil existing in an area adjacent tothe pen tip 430. The input unit 168 is described in greater detail belowwith reference to FIG. 5.

The touch screen controller 195 may include a first touch panelcontroller and a second touch panel controller. The first touch panelcontroller may convert an analog signal received from the first touchpanel 440 by detecting a finger touch or a pen touch, into a digitalsignal (e.g., X, Y, and Z coordinates), and provide the digital signalto the controller 110. The second touch panel controller may convert ananalog signal received from the second touch panel 460 by detectinghovering or touch by the input unit 168, into a digital signal, andprovide the digital signal to the controller 110. The controller 110 maycontrol the display panel 450, the first touch panel 440, and the secondtouch panel 460 using the digital signal received from each of the firstand second touch panel controllers. For example, the controller 110 maydisplay a predetermined screen on the display panel 450 in response tohovering or touch by the finger, the pen or the input unit 168.

Accordingly, in the mobile terminal 100, according to an embodiment ofthe present invention, the first touch panel 440 may detect a touch bythe user's finger or the pen, and the second touch panel 460 may detecthovering or touch by the input unit 168. Therefore, the controller 110of the mobile terminal 100 may separately detect a touch by the user'sfinger or the pen, and hovering or touch by the input unit 168. Althoughone touch screen is illustrated in FIG. 4, the embodiments of presentinvention are not limited to one touch screen, and the mobile terminal100 may include a plurality of touch screens. The multiple touch screensmay be mounted on separate housings and connected to each other by ahinge, or may be mounted on a single housing. Each of the multiple touchscreens may include a display panel and at least one touch panel asillustrated in FIG. 4.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating an input unit providing hoveringinput effects, according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 5, the input unit (e.g., a touch pen) 168, accordingto an embodiment of the present invention, includes a penholder, the pentip 430 disposed on an end of the penholder, the button 420 used tochange a value of electromagnetic induction caused by the coil 510arranged inside the penholder, the coil 510 existing in an area adjacentto the pen tip 430, the vibration device 520 that vibrates duringoccurrence of hovering input effects, a haptic controller 530 foranalyzing a control signal that is received from the mobile terminal 100due to hovering of the input unit 180 on or over the mobile terminal100, and controlling a vibration intensity and a vibration cycle of thevibration device 520 to provide haptic effects to the input unit 168, ashort-range communication unit 540 for performing short-rangecommunication with the mobile terminal 100, and a battery 550 forsupplying power for vibration of the input unit 168. In addition, theinput unit 168 includes the speaker 560 for outputting soundscorresponding to the vibration cycle and/or the vibration intensity ofthe input unit 168. The speaker 560 may output the sounds correspondingto the haptic effects provided to the input unit 168, together with thespeaker 163 mounted in the mobile terminal 100, at the same time, orbefore/after a lapse of a predetermined time (e.g., 10 ms).

The input unit 168 having this stricture may be configured to supportelectromagnetic induction. If a magnetic field is formed in a certainpoint of the touch screen 190 by the coil 510, the touch screen 190 mayrecognize a touch point by detecting the position of the magnetic field.

More specifically, the speaker 560, under control of the hapticcontroller 530, may output sounds corresponding to various signals(e.g., wireless signals, broadcast signals, digital audio files, digitalvideo files and the like) provided from the mobile communication module120, the sub-communication module 130 or the multimedia module 140mounted in the mobile terminal 100. In addition, the speaker 560 mayoutput the sounds (e.g., button manipulation tones or ring back tonesfor calls) corresponding to the functions executed by the mobileterminal 100. One or more speakers 560 may be formed in a properposition or positions of the housing of the input unit 168.

If the pen tip 430 is in contact with, or is put on or over the touchscreen 190 in a position where hovering can be detected (with a heightor a distance of, for example, 5 mm), the haptic controller 530 mayanalyze at least one control signal received from the mobile terminal100 via the short-range communication unit 540, and control thevibration cycle and the vibration intensity of the vibration device 520mounted in the input unit 168, depending on the analyzed control signal.The control signal, which is a signal transmitted by the mobile terminal100, may be periodically transmitted to the input unit 168 for apredetermined time, or until the hovering ends. The control signal mayinclude a pattern of haptic feedback corresponding to the feeling (e.g.,vibrating feeling, rippling feeling and the like) that the user feels.The haptic feedback may be the same or different depending on whetherobjects are scrolled, whether any one of scrolled multiple objects isselected, whether the selected object is zoomed in or zoomed out, orwhether objects are scrolled up or down.

The control signal may be transmitted to the input unit 168 by at leastone of the mobile communication module 120 and the sub-communicationmodule 130 in the mobile terminal 100. The control signal may include atleast one of information for activating vibration mode of the vibrationdevice 520 in the input unit 168, information indicating the vibrationintensity of the input unit 168, information for deactivating vibrationmode of the vibration device 520 in the input unit 168, and informationindicating the total time for providing the haptic effects. The controlsignal may have a size or a length of about 8 bits, and may berepeatedly transmitted at intervals of a predetermined time (e.g., 5ms), to control vibrations of the input unit 168, so the user mayrecognize that the vibrations corresponding to the haptic effects arerepeatedly generated at regular intervals. For example, the controlsignal may include information as defined in Table 1 below.

TABLE 1 Vibration Device Vibration Vibration Device Field ActivationIntensity Deactivation Information 1 125 125 131 131 2 0

As illustrated in Table 1, the control signal may include informationfor activating the vibration device 520 in the input unit 168,information indicating the vibration intensity of the vibration device520, and information for deactivating the vibration device 520. Althoughthe control signal may be transmitted to the input unit 168 at intervalsof 5 ms, it is a mere example and the transmission of the control signalmay be variable depending on the cycle of the haptic pattern. Thetransmission cycle and the transmission period of the control signal arealso variable. The transmission period may correspond to a period forwhich recognition of hovering lasts.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a method for controlling a scrollingspeed and providing haptic effects for a selected object, according toan embodiment of the present invention. FIGS. 7A to 7E illustrate thecontrolling of a scrolling speed and providing haptic effects for aselected object, according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In step S610 of FIG. 6, it is determined whether a gesture is input. Ifa gesture to display at least one object above is input using a finger710, while the mobile terminal 100 displays a plurality of objects(e.g., 720 a to 720 h in FIG. 7A) or an object on the touch screen 190,the mobile terminal 100 may scroll the plurality of objects in responseto the gesture, and display the objects (e.g., 740 a to 740 h in FIG.7B) being scrolled, on the touch screen 190, in step S612. In anembodiment of the present invention, the gesture may be input not onlyby the finger but also by the input unit 168. In the followingdescription, the finger is assumed to be used to make a gesture, forconvenience of description. The touch gesture may include at least oneof a gesture to display at least one object above at least one objectdisplayed on a touch screen by moving (or flicking) a finger down, agesture to display at least one object existing beneath at least oneobject displayed on a touch screen by moving a finger up, a gesture todisplay at least one object existing in the left side of at least oneobject displayed on a touch screen by moving a finger from the left tothe right, and a gesture to display at least one object existing in theright side of at least one object displayed on a touch screen by movinga finger from the right to the left. In addition to these touch gesturesto scroll objects up, down, left or right, a touch gesture to scrollobjects diagonally may be applied in embodiments of the presentinvention. In this case, if a touch gesture to scroll objects diagonallyis input, the controller 110 may analyze a progress direction of thetouch gesture, and display at least one object existing in the oppositeside of the progress direction of the gesture. In this way, displayingobjects by means of the touch gesture to scroll objects diagonally maybe achieved using the same algorithm as that of displaying objects bythe touch gestures to scroll objects up, down, left or right. Displayingobjects by these touch gestures may be controlled in response to thespeed of the input touch gestures. Specifically, if the speed of a touchgesture is fast, the display speed of objects being scrolled mayincrease, and if the speed of a touch gesture is slow, the display speedof objects being scrolled may decrease. Thereafter, the display speed ofobjects may gradually decrease, and finally, the display may be stopped.The display speed may decrease, as the hovering distance between thetouch screen 190 and the finger is shorter.

For example, a relationship between the speed of a touch gesture and thedisplay speed of objects may be defined as shown in Table 2 below.

TABLE 2 Gesture Speed Number of Displayed Objects (GestureDistance/Time) (Number/Second) 10 cm/s or more 30/s or more 4 cm/s~10cm/s 10/s~30/s 4 cm/s or below 10/s or below

In addition, a relationship between the hovering distance between touchscreen 190 and the finger, and the display speed of objects may bedefined as shown in Table 3 below.

TABLE 3 Number of displayed objects Hovering Distance (number/second) 5mm or more 20/s or more 2 mm~5 mm 5/s~20/s 2 mm or below 5/s or below

As illustrated in Table 2 and Table 3, in response to the speed of atouch gesture, the number of displayed objects may increase, as thespeed increases. In addition, the number of displayed objects maydecrease, as the hovering distance between the touch screen 190 and thefinger is shorter. Table 2 and Table 3 are mere examples, and thepresent disclosure may not be limited thereto.

Referring back to FIG. 6, in step S614, it is determined whetherhovering is detected. If hovering is not detected the objects continueto scroll in step S612. Upon detecting hovering by a finger (with ahovering distance being, for example, 5 mm or below) while the objectsare displayed by the touch gesture, the mobile terminal 100 determinesthe height at which the hovering is detected, in step S616. The mobileterminal 100 controls a scrolling speed in response to the detectedheight, in step S618. If the touch gesture is input, a plurality ofobjects may be displayed in the opposite direction to the progressdirection of the input touch gesture. In this state, the user maydecrease the scrolling speed or stop the scrolling by performinghovering or making a touch using a finger 730 in FIG. 7C. Making a touchmay stop the scrolling, and performing hovering may decrease thescrolling speed depending on the gap between the finger 730 and thetouch screen 190. Upon detecting hovering for a predetermined time(e.g., 1 second) or more, the mobile terminal 100 may calculate the gap(‘h’ in FIG. 7D) between the touch screen 190 and a finger 760. Thecalculated gap is for controlling the scrolling speed. As the gap issmaller, the scrolling speed may sharply decrease. On the contrary, asthe gap is larger, the scrolling speed may gradually increase. As such,the scrolling speed may be different depending on the distance ‘h’between the touch screen 190 and the finger. For example, as illustratedin Table 3, if the hovering distance between the touch screen 190 andthe finger is 5 mm or more, 20 or more objects may be displayed persecond. If the hovering distance is 2 mm to 5 mm, 5 to 20 objects may bedisplayed per second. If the hovering distance is 2 mm or below, 5 orless objects may be displayed per second. The number of displayedobjects in Table 3 may be less than that when no hovering occurs.

Referring again to FIG. 6, in step S620, it is determined whether anyobject is selected. If an object is not selected the methodologyterminates. If an object is selected while the mobile terminal 100displays objects in response to the controlled scrolling speed, themobile terminal 100 may provide at least one of visual feedback for theselected object, haptic feedback for the selected object, and a soundcorresponding thereto, in step S622. Specifically, while displayingobjects 750 and 751 in FIG. 7C, the mobile terminal 100 may provide avisual feedback to the selected object in response to an input to selectthe object 751, and provide a predetermined haptic feedback to theselected object in response to an input to select the object. Thepredetermined haptic feedback is for controlling vibration of the mobileterminal 100, and if an object is selected, the mobile terminal 100 mayvibrate in a predetermined haptic feedback of waving (or rippling)effects, and output the sound corresponding thereto. The visual feedbackis an effect for visually showing the user the selected object, and mayinclude at least one of vibration effects and rippling effects for theselected object. In addition, the visual feedback may include at leastone of vibration effects and rippling effects spreadingomni-directionally from the selected object to all the objectsdisplayed, as shown by reference numeral 752 in FIG. 7C. Morespecifically, as for the visual effects, at least one of vibrationeffects and rippling effects may be high in strength at the pointtouched by the finger, and at least one of vibration effects andrippling effects may be gradually lower in strength as the points getaway from the touch point. It will be apparent to those of ordinaryskill in the art that the present disclosure may provide not only thevibration effects and rippling effects, but also various other types offeedback allowing the user to perceive movement of objects. Furthermore,if there is a first or last object, the visual feedback may includeeffects of transforming one side of the last object to be concave orconvex. The predetermined haptic feedback may have the vibration cycleand the vibration time shown in FIG. 7E, as a pattern for controllingvibrations of the mobile terminal 100.

Referring to FIG. 7E, the waveform of a haptic pattern used when anobject is selected, according to an embodiment (described in FIG. 6) ofthe present invention, may provide a haptic effect to the mobileterminal 100 with vibrations corresponding to a voltage of 2V for 50 ms,provide vibrations corresponding to a voltage of about 30 mV, and then,provide again the haptic effect with the first provided vibrations(i.e., vibrations corresponding to a voltage of 2V), thereby allowingthe user to feel the vibrations corresponding to the feeling of hoveringor touching an object. FIG. 7E illustrates a waveform for a hapticpattern providing the feeling of waving or rippling when an object isselected on the touch screen 190 on which objects are displayed. In FIG.7E, the horizontal axis (i.e., X-axis) is a time axis representing thevibration time, and its unit 770 is 50 ms. The vertical axis (i.e.,Y-axis) represents the vibration intensity, and its unit 780 is 500 mV.The waveform of a haptic pattern used when an object is selected,according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, is not limited toFIG. 7E. In addition to the waveform of FIG. 7E, other various waveformshaving different vibration cycles and intensities may be stored in themobile terminal 100, and other haptic patterns may be generated andstored by combining pre-stored waveforms.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a method for providing visualfeedback and haptic feedback when a pinch is applied to an objectdisplayed on a touch screen, according to an embodiment of the presentinvention. FIGS. 9A to 9D illustrate a process of pinching an objectdisplayed on a touch screen, according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

The mobile terminal 100 displays an object on the touch screen 190, instep S810. The object may include not only images, such as photos, maps,documents and Emails, but also any objects that can be zoomed out or inon the touch screen 190. Although a map will be assumed as an object forconvenience of description, it will be apparent to those of ordinaryskill in the art that the present disclosure is not limited to the map,but may be applied to any object that can be zoomed out or in on thetouch screen 190. FIG. 9A illustrates a map 910 displayed on the touchscreen 190. On the map 910 may be shown a first point A 911, and asecond point B 912 that is spaced apart from the first point A 911. Thefirst point A 911 and the second point B 912 may be pinched (or moved)to the right and the left, respectively.

In step S812, it is determined whether an object is zoomed-out by atouch gesture. If an object is not zoomed-out by a touch gesture, themethodology terminates. If a touch gesture (e.g., a pinch gesture) isinput to the map 910 displayed on the touch screen 190, the mobileterminal 100 zooms out the map 910 displayed on the touch screen 190 inresponse to the input pinch, in step S814. The pinch refers to a gestureto drag two fingers simultaneously or sequentially so that two points onthe touch screen 190 get closer to each other. The pinch may be input bytouching two points on the touch screen 190, and then, dragging the twopoints, or may be input by hovering with the touch screen 190. Asillustrated in FIG. 9A, if the user moves the first point A 911 to theright and the second point B 912 to the left, the mobile terminal 100may zoom out the displayed map and display the zoomed-out map on thetouch screen 190. The controller 110 may calculate a distance betweenthe points touched by fingers to make a pinch and a distance between thetouch points after the pinch, and compare the calculated distances witheach other, and may determine that a pinch (gesture) was made, if thedistance between the touch points after the pinch is shorter than thedistance between the touch points before the pinch.

In step S816, it is determined whether the zooming-out of the object iscontinued. If the zooming-out is not continued, the methodologyterminates. If the pinch to zoom out the map is continuously input, themobile terminal 100 it is determined whether further zooming-out of theobject is possible, in step S818. If further zooming-out is possible,the methodology returns to step S812 where the touch gesture isdetermined and the zoomed-out object is displayed in S814.

If the map can no longer be zoomed out by a pinch command, the mobileterminal 100 may provide at least one of visual feedback, hapticfeedback, and a sound corresponding thereto, to the map that can nolonger be zoomed out, and display the resulting map on the touch screen190, in step S820. The controller 110 may determine that the map can nolonger be zoomed out, depending on the object characteristics of the mapprovider. For example, the map may be commonly zoomed in or out, and theuser may determine that the map can no longer be zoomed out with the mapzoom ratio, or may determine that the map can no longer be zoomed out bythe function provided by the mobile terminal 100. If the map can nolonger be zoomed out, the controller 110 may provide visual feedbacksuch as bounce effects to the map. The visual feedback, feedback forvisually showing the user the selected map, may be feedback forindicating that the selected map can no longer be zoomed out. Forexample, as illustrated in FIG. 9B, an upper side 934 a, a lower side934 d, and both sides 934 b and 934 c of a map 930 displayed on thetouch screen 190 may be transformed to be concave. Due to the pinch, twopoints 931 and 932 on the map 930 may be nearest to each other. Themobile terminal 100 may transform four sides of one map to be concave,or transform at least one side of the map to be concave, to provide avisual feedback. Alternatively, as illustrated in FIG. 9D, if the userpinches two points on a map 950 displayed on the touch screen 190, aside corresponding to a point whose drag distance is longer may betransformed to be more concave than the other side. Specifically, inFIG. 9D, if a point A is dragged from a first point 951 to a secondpoint 952 on the touch screen 190 and a point B is dragged from a thirdpoint 953 to a fourth point 954, and if a drag distance d1 of the pointA is longer than a drag distance d2 of the point B, then the left sideof the point A may be transformed to be more concave than the right sideof the point B. On the contrary, if the distance d1 of the point A isnot longer than the drag distance d2 of the point B, the right side ofthe point B may be transformed to be more concave than the left side ofthe point A. The positions of four vertices located at the corners ofthe object may be fixed unchanged. Similarly, not only the left andright sides, but also the upper and lower sides may be transformed to bedifferently concave, using the difference between a drag distance of anupper point and a drag distance of a lower point.

If the selected map can no longer be zoomed out, the mobile terminal 100may control vibrations in response to a predetermined haptic feedback,and output the sound corresponding thereto. If the input of the pinchends (e.g., if the touch for a pinch is released from the touch screen190), the mobile terminal 100 may provide a rippling visual feedback tothe selected object. The predetermined haptic feedback may be differentdepending on the up/down/left/right movement of the object, or thezooming-in/out of the map.

The distance between the two points 931 and 932 on a map 940 illustratedin FIG. 9C may be the same as the distance between the two points 931and 932 in FIG. 9B. The map 940 illustrated in FIG. 9C may be itszoomed-out minimum map to which the pinch function can no longer beapplied, and if the user desires to zoom in the map, the user may zoomin the map using the spread function. If the two points 931 and 932 onthe map 930 can no longer undergo a pinch operation after gettingclosest to each other by the pinch as illustrated in FIG. 9B, the mobileterminal 100 may output a predetermined haptic pattern whose waveform isas shown in FIG. 12.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a method for providing visualfeedback and haptic feedback when a spread is applied to an objectdisplayed on a touch screen, according to an embodiment of the presentinvention. FIGS. 11A to 11D illustrate a process of spreading an objectdisplayed on a touch screen, according to an embodiment of the presentinvention.

The mobile terminal 100 displays an object on the touch screen 190, instep S1010. The object may include not only images, such as photos,maps, documents and Emails, but also any type of object that can bezoomed in or out on the touch screen 190. FIG. 11A illustrates a map1110 displayed on the touch screen 190. On the map 1110 may be shown afirst point A 1111, and a second point B 1112 that is spaced apart fromthe first point A 1111. The first point A 1111 and the second point B1112 may be spread (or moved) to the left and the right, respectively.

In step S1012, it is determined whether an object is zoomed-in by atouch gesture. If an object is not zoomed-in by a touch gesture, themethodology terminates. If a spread to zoom in the map 1110 displayed onthe touch screen 190 is input, the mobile terminal 100 may spread thedisplayed map 1110 and display the spread map on the touch screen 190 inresponse to the spread input, in step S1014. The spread refers to agesture to drag two fingers simultaneously or sequentially so that twopoints on the touch screen 190 may be spaced farther away from eachother. The spread may be input by touching two points on the touchscreen 190, and then, dragging the two points, or may be input byhovering with the touch screen 190.

As illustrated in FIG. 11A, if the user moves the first point A 1111 tothe left and the second point B 1112 to the right, the mobile terminal100 may zoom in the displayed map and display the zoomed-in map on thetouch screen 190. The controller 110 may calculate a distance betweenthe points touched by fingers to make a spread and a distance betweenthe touch points after the spread, and compare the calculated distanceswith each other, and may determine that a spread (gesture) was made, ifthe distance between the touch points after the spread is longer thanthe distance between the touch points before the spread.

In step S1016, it is determined whether zooming-in of the object iscontinued. If zooming-in of the object is not continued, the methodologyterminates. If the spread to zoom in the map is continuously input, itis determined whether further zooming-in of the object is possible, instep S1018. If it is determined that further zooming-in of the object ispossible, the methodology returns to step S1012 where the touch gestureis determined, and the further zoomed-in object is displayed in stepS1014. The process of zooming in the map through a spread may berepeatedly performed until the map can no longer be zoomed in.

If the map can no longer be zoomed in by a spread, the mobile terminal100 may provide at least one of visual feedback, haptic feedback, and asound corresponding thereto, to the map that can no longer be zoomed in,and display the resulting map on the touch screen 190, in step S1020.The controller 110 may determine that the map can no longer be zoomedin, depending on the object characteristics of the map provider. Forexample, the map may be commonly zoomed in or out, and the user maydetermine that the map can no longer be zoomed in with the map zoomratio, or may determine that the map can no longer be zoomed in by thefunction provided by the mobile terminal 100. If the map can no longerbe zoomed in, the controller 110 may provide a visual feedback such asbounce effects to the map. The visual feedback, feedback for visuallyshowing the user the selected map, may be feedback for indicating thatthe selected map can no longer be zoomed in. For example, FIG. 11Billustrates an example in which an object displayed on a touch screencan no longer be spread, and in this example, an upper side 1134 a, alower side 1134 d and both sides 1134 b and 1134 c of a map 1130displayed on the touch screen 190 may be transformed to be convex byfingers 1133. Due to the spread, two points 1131 and 1132 on the map1130 may be farthest from each other. The mobile terminal 100 maytransform four sides of one map to be convex, or transform at least oneside of the map to be convex, to provide a visual feedback.

Alternatively, as illustrated in FIG. 11D, if the user spreads twopoints on a map 1150 displayed on the touch screen 190, a sidecorresponding to a point whose drag distance is longer may betransformed to be more convex than the other side. Specifically, in FIG.11D, if a point A is dragged from a first point 1151 to a second point1152 on the touch screen 190 and a point B is dragged from a third point1153 to a fourth point 1154, and if a drag distance d1 of the point A islonger than a drag distance d2 of the point B, then the left side of thepoint A may be transformed to be more convex than the right side of thepoint B. On the contrary, if the distance d1 of the point A is notlonger than the drag distance d2 of the point B, the right side of thepoint B may be transformed to be more convex than the left side of thepoint A. Similarly, not only the left and right sides, but also theupper and lower sides may be transformed to be differently convex, usingthe difference between a drag distance of an upper point and a dragdistance of a lower point. If the selected map can no longer be zoomedin, the mobile terminal 100 may control vibrations in response to apredetermined haptic feedback, and output the sound correspondingthereto.

The distance between the two points 1131 and 1132 on a map 1140illustrated in FIG. 11C may be the same as the distance between the twopoints 1131 and 1132 in FIG. 11B. The map 1140 illustrated in FIG. 11Cmay be its zoomed-in maximum map to which the spread function can nolonger be applied, and if the user desires to zoom out the map, the usermay zoom out the map using the pinch function. If the two points 1131and 1132 on the map 1130 can no longer undergo a spread operation aftergetting farthest from each other by the spread as illustrated in FIG.11B, the mobile terminal 100 may output a predetermined haptic patternwhose waveform is as shown in FIG. 12.

The waveform of the predetermined haptic pattern illustrated in FIG. 12may be used in common for the embodiment of FIGS. 8 and 9A to 9D, andthe embodiment of FIGS. 10 and 11A to 11D.

FIG. 12 illustrates a waveform of a haptic pattern used when an objectdisplayed on a touch screen can no longer be pinched or spread,according to an embodiment of the present invention. The waveform of thehaptic pattern in FIG. 12 may provide vibrations corresponding to avoltage of about 3V for 50 ms, and then, provide no vibrations for 50ms. Thereafter, the waveform may provide vibrations corresponding to avoltage of 2V for a long time, thereby allowing the user to feel thefeeling that an object displayed on the touch screen 190 can no longerbe spread or pinched. For example, the waveform in FIG. 12 may be awaveform for a tactile haptic pattern that provides a bouncing feelingwhen an object displayed on the touch screen 190 can no longer be spreador pinched. In FIG. 12, the horizontal axis (i.e., X-axis) is a timeaxis representing the vibration time, and its unit 1210 is 50 ms. Thevertical axis (i.e., Y-axis) represents the vibration intensity, and itsunit 1220 is 500 mV. The waveform of a haptic pattern used when anobject displayed on a touch screen can no longer be pinched or spread,according to an embodiment of the present invention, is not limited toFIG. 12. In addition to the waveform of FIG. 12, other waveforms havingdifferent vibration cycles and intensities may be stored in the mobileterminal 100, and other haptic patterns may be generated and stored bycombining pre-stored waveforms.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating a method for providing visualfeedback and haptic feedback when a gesture is made to display at leastone object existing beneath a plurality of objects displayed on a touchscreen, according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIGS. 14Ato 14E illustrate a process of making a gesture to display at least oneobject existing beneath a plurality of objects displayed on a touchscreen, according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The mobile terminal 100 displays a plurality of objects on the touchscreen 190, in step S1310. The objects may include not only images, suchas photos, maps, documents and Emails, but also any objects that can bedisplayed on the touch screen 190. As illustrated in FIG. 14A, the touchscreen 190 may display at least one object 1411 to 1413, and a pluralityof objects (1414 to 1418 in FIG. 14B) may exist beneath (correspondingto objects beneath the object 1413) of the plurality of objects (1411 to1413 in FIG. 14A), which are currently displayed on the touch screen190.

In step S1312, it is determined whether an up-gesture is input. If anup-gesture is not input, the methodology terminates. If a gesture todisplay at least one object existing beneath is input while a pluralityof objects are displayed on the touch screen 190, the mobile terminal100 may display a plurality of objects determined by the input gesture,in step S1314. The gesture means an action of moving up a finger 1410 todisplay objects (1414 to 1418 in FIGS. 14B and 14C) existing beneath theobjects displayed on the touch screen 190. The speed, at which theplurality of objects are displayed in step S1314, may be proportional tothe speed of the gesture. Specifically, if the speed of the gesture ishigh, the display speed may also be high, and if the speed of thegesture is low, the display speed may also be low. The relationshipbetween the speed of the gesture and the display speed is as shown inTable 2.

In step S1316, it is determined whether the up-gesture is continued. Ifthe up-gesture is not continued, display of the objects is continued atstep S1314. If the user desires to continuously input the gesture, it isdetermined whether the up-gesture is possible in step S1318. If theup-gesture is possible, the methodology returns to step S1312 where thefurther up-gesture is input, and additional objects are displayed instep S1314. The gesture may be repeatedly made until objects (1416 to1418 in FIG. 14C) existing in the lowermost side are displayed.

If the gesture is not possible, the mobile terminal 100 may provide atleast one of visual feedback, haptic feedback, and a sound correspondingthereto, for objects, and display the plurality of objects, in stepS1320. If a plurality of objects (1416 to 1418 in FIG. 14C) existing inthe lowermost side are displayed with at least one gesture, the gesturecan no longer be input. In this case, the mobile terminal 100 mayprovide at least one of visual feedback, haptic feedback, and the soundcorresponding thereto, to the object (1418 in FIG. 14C) existing in thelowermost side among the objects. The visual feedback is a feedback forvisually showing the user the bounce effects indicating that there is nomore object to be displayed even though a gesture is input. This visualfeedback may include transforming a bottom side 1418 a of the object1418 existing in the lowermost side to be concave. In this case, thecontroller 110 may determine a point of the finger by which the gesturewas made on the touch screen 190, and transform a portion perpendicularto the point of the finger to be most concave. In other words, thecontroller 110 may determine a starting point, an ending point and aprogress direction of the gesture on the touch screen 190, and form apoint nearest the starting point to be most concave, on a side of anobject located in the opposite direction to the progress direction. Forexample, as illustrated in FIG. 14D, the bottom side 1418 a of theobject 1418 displayed on the touch screen 190 may be transformed to beconcave such that the bottom side 1418 a of a portion perpendicular tothe point of the finger may be most concave. In other words, the visualfeedback may be different depending on the position of the finger beingdragged. As illustrated in FIG. 14D, if a gesture is made by a finger onthe right side, a point nearest to the starting point where the gestureby the finger starts may be formed to be most concave on the bottom sideof the object (e.g., the object 1418 existing in the lowermost side)located in the opposite direction to the progress direction of thefinger. In addition, a side most nearest the left and right sides of thefinger position may be concave. As described above, the mobile terminal100 may transform the bottom side of the object to be concave, ortransform at least one other side of the object to be concave, toprovide a visual feedback. This visual feedback may be provided untilthe touch by the input gesture is terminated. Specifically, the visualfeedback may be provided while the touch with the touch screen 190 bythe gesture continues, and if the touch is released from the touchscreen 190, the visual feedback may also be terminated and the objectsmay be displayed as illustrated in FIG. 14E. Furthermore, if objectsexisting in the lower side can no longer be displayed, the mobileterminal 100, while or before/after providing the visual feedback, maycontrol vibrations and output the sound corresponding thereto, inresponse to a predetermined haptic feedback.

As illustrated in FIG. 14C, if the bottom side 1418 a of the object 1418in FIG. 14C is transformed to be concave by the gesture, a waveform of apredetermined haptic feedback, which is used when a gesture can nolonger be made, may be as shown in FIG. 17.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart illustrating a method for providing visualfeedback and haptic feedback when a gesture is made to display at leastone object existing above a plurality of objects displayed on a touchscreen, according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIGS. 16Ato 16E illustrate a process of making a gesture to display at least oneobject existing above a plurality of objects displayed on a touchscreen, according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In step S1510, the mobile terminal 100 displays a plurality of objectson the touch screen 190. The objects may include not only images, suchas photos, maps, documents, and Emails, but also any objects that can bedisplayed on the touch screen 190. As illustrated in FIG. 16A, the touchscreen 190 may display at least one object 1611 to 1613, and a pluralityof objects (1614 to 1618 in FIG. 16B) may exist above (corresponding toobjects over the object 1611) of the plurality of objects (1611 to 1613in FIG. 16A), which are currently displayed on the touch screen 190.

In step S1512, it is determined whether a down-gesture is input. If adown gesture is not input the methodology terminates. If a gesture todisplay at least one object existing above is input while a plurality ofobjects are displayed on the touch screen 190, the mobile terminal 100may display a plurality of objects determined by the input gesture, instep S1514. The gesture means an action of moving down an input unit(e.g., a finger 1610) to display objects (1614 to 1618 in FIG. 16B)existing above the objects displayed on the touch screen 190. The speedat which the plurality of objects are displayed in step S1514, may beproportional to the speed of the gesture. Specifically, if the speed ofthe gesture is high, the display speed may also be high, and if thespeed of the gesture is low, the display speed may also be low.

In step S1516, it is determined whether the down-gesture is continued.If the down-gesture is not continued, the methodology returns to stepS1514, where display of the objects continues. If the user desires tocontinuously input the gesture, it is determined whether thedown-gesture is possible, in step S1518. If the down-gesture ispossible, the methodology returns to step S1512, where the furtherdown-gesture is determined and the further objects are displayed in stepS1514. The gesture may be repeatedly made until objects (1614, 1617 and1618 in FIG. 16C) existing in the uppermost side are displayed.

If the gesture is not possible, the mobile terminal 100 may provide atleast one of visual feedback, haptic feedback and a sound correspondingthereto, for objects, and display the plurality of objects, in stepS1520. If a plurality of objects (1614, 1617 and 1618 in FIG. 16C)existing in the uppermost side are displayed with at least one gesture,the gesture can no longer be input. In this case, the mobile terminal100 may provide at least one of visual feedback, haptic feedback and thesound corresponding thereto, to the object (1618 in FIG. 16C) existingin the uppermost side among the objects. The visual feedback is afeedback for visually showing the user the bounce effects indicatingthat there is no more object to be displayed even though a gesture isinput. This visual feedback may include forming or transforming a upperside 1618 a of the object 1618 existing in the uppermost side to beconcave. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 16D, the ceiling side 1618a of the object 1618 displayed on the touch screen 190 may betransformed to be concave inward. More specifically, if a gesture isinput, the controller 110 may determine a starting point, an endingpoint and a progress direction of the gesture, and form a point nearestthe starting point to be most concave, on a side of an object located inthe opposite direction to the progress direction. For example, since thegesture of the finger 1610 is inclined to the right side, the ceilingside 1618 a may be transformed to be most concave. In this way, themobile terminal 100 may transform the ceiling side of the object to beconcave, or transform at least one other side of the object to beconcave, to provide a visual feedback. This visual feedback may beprovided until the touch by the input gesture is terminated.Specifically, the visual feedback may be provided while the touch withthe touch screen 190 by the gesture continues, and if the touch isreleased from the touch screen 190, the visual feedback may also beterminated and the objects may be displayed as illustrated in FIG. 16E.Furthermore, if objects existing in the upper side can no longer bedisplayed, the mobile terminal 100, while or before/after providing thevisual feedback, may control vibrations and output the soundcorresponding thereto, in response to a predetermined haptic feedback.

As illustrated in FIG. 16C, if the ceiling side 1618 a of the object1618 in FIG. 16C is transformed to be concave by the gesture, a waveformof a predetermined haptic feedback, which is used when a gesture can nolonger be made, may be as shown in FIG. 17.

FIG. 17 illustrates a waveform of a haptic pattern used when at leastone object existing beneath or above a plurality of objects displayed ona touch screen can no longer be displayed, according to an embodiment ofthe present invention.

The waveform of the predetermined haptic pattern illustrated in FIG. 17may be applied in common to an embodiment of FIGS. 13 and 14A to 14E,and another embodiment of FIGS. 15 and 16A to 16E.

Referring to FIG. 17, the waveform of the haptic pattern may be usedwhen a gesture to display at least one object beneath or a gesture todisplay at least one object above can no longer be made while aplurality of objects are displayed on a touch screen, according to anembodiment of the present disclosure. For the waveform of the hapticpattern, its vibrations corresponding to a voltage of 1V may be periodicin units of 50 ms. These vibrations may occur when the user does nottake the input unit (e.g., the finger) off from the touch screen 190 (orkeeps touching the touch screen 190 with the input unit) after making agesture on the touch screen 190. In other words, the waveform in FIG. 17may be a waveform for a tactile haptic pattern that provides a bouncingfeeling when a gesture to display at least one object on the touchscreen 190 can no longer be made. In FIG. 17, the horizontal axis (i.e.,X-axis) is a time axis representing the vibration time, and its unit1710 is 50 ms. The vertical axis (i.e., Y-axis) represents the vibrationintensity, and its unit 1720 is 500 mV. The waveform of a haptic patternused when a gesture to display at least one object on a touch screen canno longer be made according to an exemplary embodiment of the presentdisclosure is not limited to FIG. 17. In addition to the waveform ofFIG. 17, other various waveforms having different vibration cycle andintensity may be stored in the mobile terminal 100, and other hapticpatterns may be generated and stored by combining pre-stored waveforms.

Embodiments of the present invention may be implemented by hardware,software, or a combination thereof. The software may be stored involatile or non-volatile storage (e.g., erasable or re-writable ROM),memory (e.g., RAM, memory chip, memory device, or memory IntegratedCircuit (IC)), or optically or magnetically recordable machine (e.g.,computer)-readable storage media (e.g., Compact Disk (CD), DigitalVersatile Disk (DVD), magnetic disk, or magnetic tape). A memory thatcan be included in a mobile terminal may be a typical example ofmachine-readable storage media suitable to store a program or programsincluding instructions for implementing embodiments of the presentinvention. Therefore, embodiments of the present invention may include aprogram including codes for implementing the apparatus or method asdefined by the appended claims and their equivalents, andmachine-readable storage media storing the program. The program may beelectronically carried by any media such as communication signals, whichare transmitted through wired/wireless connections.

The mobile terminal may receive and store the program from a programserver to which it is connected by wires or wirelessly. The programserver may include a memory for storing a program including instructionsfor implementing the haptic control method, and information needed forthe haptic control method, a communication unit for performingwired/wireless communication with the mobile terminal, and a controllerfor transmitting the program to the mobile terminal at the request ofthe mobile terminal or automatically.

As is apparent from the foregoing description, according to anembodiment of the present invention, the mobile terminal may control thedisplay speed for objects displayed on the touch screen, and providevisual and/or haptic feedback to the user when bouncing effects occur asthe user moves a selected object up, down, left or right, therebyimproving the user's convenience.

While the invention has been shown and described with reference tocertain embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled inthe art that various changes in form and detail may be made thereinwithout departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as definedby the appended claims and their equivalents.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for providing visual and haptic feedbackin a mobile terminal, the method comprising the steps of: detecting atleast one first touch on an object displayed on a touch screen;scrolling and displaying the object based on movement of the firsttouch; detecting an object hovering over the touch screen whilescrolling and displaying the object; determining a distance between thetouch screen and the detected object hovering over the touch screen;varying a speed of the scrolling based on a change of the distancebetween the touch screen and the detected object hovering over the touchscreen; and displaying the object based on the varied speed of thescrolling, further comprising: if the determined distance is a firstdistance, scrolling and displaying the object based on a first speed;and if the determined distance is a second distance, scrolling anddisplaying the object based on a second speed, wherein the firstdistance is larger than the second distance, and the first speed islarger than the second speed.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein thevisual feedback comprises an operation in which at least one of avibrating visual feedback and a rippling visual feedback begins at anobject where at least one second touch is detected, and wherein thehaptic feedback is output corresponding to the visual feedback.
 3. Themethod of claim 2, wherein the haptic feedback has a waveform thatvibrates at a vibration intensity corresponding to a voltage of 1.5V for50 ms, vibrates at a vibration intensity corresponding to a voltage of500 mV for 70 ms, and then, vibrates again at a vibration intensitycorresponding to a voltage of 1.5V for 50 ms after a lapse of 50 ms. 4.The method of claim 1, wherein scrolling and displaying the objectcomprises transforming and displaying the object in response to adirection of the movement of the first touch.
 5. The method of claim 4,wherein if the object is no longer scrolled in response to movement ofthe first touch, the visual feedback is provided, which transforms, tobe concave, one of the four sides of the object that is opposite adirection of the movement of the first touch.
 6. The method of claim 5,wherein the haptic feedback is output, which corresponds to the visualfeedback that transforms one of the four sides of the object to beconcave.
 7. The method of claim 6, wherein the visual feedbacktransforms one of the four sides of the object to be concave based onboth vertices of the one side.
 8. The method of claim 5, wherein thepredetermined haptic pattern has a waveform that repeats for apredetermined time a cycle in which the waveform vibrates at a vibrationintensity corresponding to a voltage of 1V for 50 ms.
 9. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising: detecting at least one second touch on thedisplayed object; displaying visual feedback on the touch screen basedon the second touch; and outputting haptic feedback corresponding to apredetermined haptic pattern using a vibration motor.
 10. The method ofclaim 9, wherein the at least one first touch and the at least onesecond touch are input through an input unit that is in communicationwith the mobile terminal.
 11. The method of claim 10, further comprisingtransmitting a control signal corresponding to the haptic feedback tothe input unit.
 12. The method of claim 9, wherein each of the at leastone first touch and the at least one second touch comprise multipletouches; wherein the object is zoomed in or out in response to themovement of the first touch; and wherein if the object is no longerzoomed in or out in response to movement of the second touch, the visualfeedback is provided that transforms at least one side of the object tobe convex or concave.
 13. The method of claim 12, wherein outputting thehaptic feedback comprises outputting the haptic feedback correspondingto the visual feedback that transforms the at least one side of theobject to be convex or concave.
 14. The method of claim 13, wherein thehaptic feedback has a waveform that vibrates at a vibration intensitycorresponding to a voltage of 2V to 2.5V for 70 ms, stops the vibrationfor 50 ms, and then, vibrates again at a vibration intensitycorresponding to a voltage of 2V for 400 ms.
 15. The method of claim 12,wherein the at least one side of the object is transformed to be concavein response to a distance between a touch position where the secondtouch is detected and a side opposite a direction of the movement of thesecond touch.
 16. The method of claim 12, wherein the at least one sideof the object is transformed to be convex in response to a distancebetween a touch position where the second touch is detected and a sidein a direction of the movement of the second touch.
 17. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the object hovering over the touch screen is a user'sfinger, and the hovering is an input by the user's finger.
 18. A mobileterminal for providing visual and haptic feedback, the mobile terminalcomprising: a vibration motor configured to output vibrations; a touchscreen configured to display an object; and a controller configured to:detect at least one first touch on an object displayed on the touchscreen, scroll and display the object based on movement of the firsttouch, detect an object hovering over the touch screen while scrollingand displaying the object, determine a distance between the touch screenand the detected object hovering over the touch screen, vary a speed ofthe scrolling based on a change of the distance between the touch screenand the detected object hovering over the touch screen, and display theobject based on the varied speed of the scrolling, further comprising;if the determined distance is a first distance, scrolling and displayingthe object based on a first speed; and if the determined distance is asecond distance, scrolling and displaying the object based on a secondspeed, wherein the first distance is larger than the second distance,and the first speed is larger than the second speed.
 19. The mobileterminal of claim 18, further comprising a transceiver for transmittinga control signal including the predetermined haptic pattern to an inputunit that provides a touch to the touch screen.
 20. The mobile terminalof claim 18, wherein if the object is no longer scrolled in response tomovement of the first touch, the controller transforms, to be concave,one of four sides of the object in a direction that is opposite to themovement of the first touch.
 21. The mobile terminal of claim 20,wherein the controller determines a starting point, an ending point, anda progress direction of the movement of the second touch, and transformsa point nearest the starting point to be most concave, on a side of theobject that is opposite to the progress direction.
 22. The mobileterminal of claim 20, wherein the controller fixes positions of bothvertices of the one side so that the positions may remain unchanged. 23.The mobile terminal of claim 18, further comprising: detecting at leastone second touch on the displayed object; displaying visual feedback onthe touch screen based on the second touch; and outputting hapticfeedback corresponding to a predetermined haptic pattern using avibration motor.
 24. The mobile terminal of claim 23, wherein if thesecond touch is a touch made to select an object, the controllerdetermines a touch point, and provides to the touch screen visualfeedback that spreads rippling of the touch screen outwardly from thetouch point.
 25. The mobile terminal of claim 23, wherein if the secondtouch is a touch to zoom in or out an object and the object is no longerzoomed in or out in response to movement of the second touch, thecontroller provides to the touch screen visual feedback that transformsat least one side of the object to be convex or concave, and outputs thehaptic feedback corresponding to the visual feedback to the vibrationmotor.
 26. The mobile terminal of claim 25, wherein one side of theobject is transformed to be convex in response to a distance between atouch position where the second touch is detected and a side in adirection of the movement of the second touch.
 27. The mobile terminalof claim 25, wherein one side of the object is transformed to be concavein response to a distance between a touch position where the secondtouch is detected and a side that is opposite a direction of themovement of the second touch.
 28. The mobile terminal of claim 27,wherein the controller fixes positions of four vertices located atcorners of the object so that the positions remain unchanged.
 29. Themobile terminal of claim 18, wherein the object hovering over the touchscreen is a user's finger, and the hovering is an input by the user'sfinger.